Violet's Playlist
by K1ng Of H34rts
Summary: A young girl embarks on a journey with a friend by her side after a tragic night. Can the two of them overcome their struggles and manage to find a peaceful ending, or are they doomed to lead lives destined for a tragic ending? Will contain FEM!Harry.
1. Good Riddance

**Hello all, King Of Hearts here. So this will be my first attempt at a story here on the site after a very long hiatus from posting. I hope everyone enjoys the story. **

**Also before anyone can comment on it, this story was inspired by Engineer4Ever's story Unrelenting Frozen Seas. **

**With the help of my editor and co-writer, Ethan, I'm hoping to keep similarities between this story and Unrelenting Frozen Seas to a very minimum. Also the length of this chapter will hopefully be the norm for this story.**

**So without further delay please enjoy the first chapter to Violet's Playlist.**

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Chapter 1

Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)

Early November, 1990

It was a cloudy and cold Sunday morning in November as Elizabeth Pendolton was making her way through the crowded Manhattan sidewalks. She was a woman in her late 40s early 50s with graying hair just peeking out of her white winter hat. If you had seen her as she made her way to the homeless shelter near her apartment, you would have seen her dressed in a grey pants, an AC/DC shirt, and worn, but cared for, boots and a brown coat. Normally her youngest daughter, Jessica who was 16, would accompany her but she had been up late studying for an exam that was fast approaching. So, it was that Elizabeth was making the walk alone this morning. As it was, had Jessica been with her this morning, she might have missed the cries that she now heard as she passed by an alleyway. Elizabeth, as a volunteer to not only a homeless shelter but also at an animal shelter, stopped and listened more closely to the cries. What she heard made her heart break. It was not an animal as she had first assumed, because no animal could mimic the cries of a baby. She hurried into the alleyway, and began to search around for the child. After only a minute, she found the child. The baby was wrapped in what appeared to be a nice purple blanket that had been soiled by the water runoff from a nearby dumpster.

"Oh you poor thing." Elizabeth murmured as she picked up the child. She fished out her phone carefully, while trying to soothe the child, and called her boss Marcus. "I found an abandoned child in an alleyway, can you get someone to get some stuff ready to clean the child up?" She asked her long time boss. She winced as she heard yelling over the phone. "Marcus, I'll answer your questions when I come in, okay?" She quickly said, as she turned her phone off, and began to make her way, at a quicker pace, to the shelter. Her mind was only on one thing, as her jacket absorbed the water and filth from the blanket. She knew she had to get this child to the shelter. It was only a mere five minutes before she was inside the shelter.

"Marcus!" Elizabeth called as she spotted the man that had opened, and oversaw most of what went on in the shelter. He turned, and started walking towards her. She quickly went over to a table, and gently laid the child on it. As she gently took the blankets off, Marcus called out to the volunteer at the front desk, "Hey Alice, can you get some hot water and a towel, then check if we have clothing for a toddler?" She quickly scampered away, looking for what he had asked for. The child, who after having the soiled blanket and clothes removed, was revealed to be a girl with a head of black hair and an odd lightning bolt shaped cut upon her forehead. Alice quickly brought a bowl of warm water, and towles of multiple sizes, and said"I'm going to start looking for clothing now, if you need anything else, Josh should be coming in, in a few minutes." Twenty minutes later, after that they had her clothed in, with some clothes that they had at the shelter, they went to Marcus's office, where the girl was drinking formula, greedily out of a bottle.

"You found the girl in an alleyway near a dumpster?!" Marcus nearly yelled after Eliabeth had told him how she had found the girl.

"Yes, I don't understand how any parent could do that to a child." Elizabeth replied. "Especially as she looks to be older than most children who are abandoned."

"Yeah, that's true. You would think they would give the child to an orphanage, just to avoid the legal problems, so I am slightly surprised that you just found her in an alleyway." Marcus sighing, as he said that. He looked to the girl in Elizabeth's arms. Now that her face wasn't scrunched up from crying her heart out, he could see that in addition to her black hair and slightly dark skin she had a pair of beautiful green eyes. "Well we will have to take her to one of the orphanages and give her to them." He said with a slightly heavy heart.

Elizabeth knew that would be the best course, and most likely the course they should go with. There was no reasonable way to have a baby girl to stay at a homeless shelter that catered to families and single was no way that they could ask anyone, at the shelter to look after the girl, as they had their own issues to deal with, without the addition of another person to care for. But a tiny whisper in the back of her head told Elizabeth not to let this beautiful baby girl go into the system. "This child is destined for greatness, help her, nurture her. Make her the best she can be." The voice said.

"I could take her in, you know." She said after a minute. And she could. While she wasn't the wealthiest person in Manhattan, she was definitely well off. While she was widowed, her deceased husband had left her his federal pension as well as a hefty sum of money through investments he had made over the years. On top of that her eldest son worked on Wall Street, and while he didn't expressly give her money, he doted on his youngest sister and his aging mother. In fact her other two children were also well off or at least keeping themselves in a decent lifestyle. So while it might be slightly hard taking the girl in, she knew she wouldn't have to worry about money, if she took the child in.

"Elizabeth, not to sound rude, but you are starting to get a little old. And don't you still have Jess to look after?" Marcus said in response to her statement, which seemed slightly out of character for her.

Elizabeth took slight offense to that statement. "I would definitely say look after is a strong way to put it, she is sixteen years old and she can take care of herself for the most part, and I will have you know that while I may be getting older I can still keep up with the younger people who help out here." She said, with a tone of vehemence.

"That's true, but are you sure this is the right decision. Jess might be able to take care of herself, but will you be able to take care of yourself with all that you do at your job, and here? Marcus asked, "And plus, do you even know how to adopt a child, especially an abandoned child?"

"Don't worry about me, I can take care of myself. And plus, it can't be too hard to adopt a kid anyways, especially one that was abandoned." She said, with some certainty in her voice, and confidence surging through her. She knew the voice had never lead her down the wrong path. Maybe a path with difficulty ahead, but she knew she was making the right decision.

Marcus stared at Elizabeth for a few minutes, neither of them saying anything. Eventually Marcus sighed and brought a hand to his face and rubbed his eyes. "Fine. I know a few people who will be able to help you out with the adoption process. Though beyond that it's all on you to have everything go through." He said finally.

Elizabeth's smile got brighter and brighter as he finished his sentence. She seemed to hold the girl a little tighter. "Thank you, Marcus." She quietly said, hoping not to disturb the little girl in her arms.

Marcus gave a small smile as he shook his head. "Don't thank me yet, you gotta make sure the bureaucrats over at social services are happy with everything, and you'll have to fix up your house some, with that little tyke running around." Elizabeth just continued to smile at both Marcus and the child in her arms.

Late June, 1992

Elizabeth was awoken suddenly in the middle of the night as a scream pierced through her 3 bedroom apartment. Elizabeth sighed softly as she sat up, and rubbed her eyes open. This was the third time this week that this had happened. She glanced at the clock. 3:12am. She slid out of her bed and into the slippers she kept at her bedside. Looking out the window, she saw lightning and heard thunder quietly roaring through the sky. The thunderstorm predicted for last night had finally arrived, early in the morning. She grabbed the dressing gown that hung on the back of her bedroom door, as she quietly trudged towards her youngest daughter's room. . With the little light in the hall, she glanced at the pictures that hung on the wall. The pictures in the hall held some of the major moments in her children's lives. Eric's, her oldest son, at his wedding back in January. Sarah, her oldest daughter, walking across the stage at graduation from medical school in May. Brian, her youngest son, standing in front of the Eiffel Tower as he and his band toured Europe this year. Lastly, Jessica, her now second youngest daughter, and her graduation from high school just a few weeks ago. Of course there were also photos of her youngest daughter, who she successfully adopted after fighting CPS for months, in the hall, little things that the family celebrated with their newest sister. Though after a few moments she was in front of her youngest's door and was about to knock and open it when she heard talking coming from the room.

"Come on Vi, it's alright, nothing here is gonna hurt you." She heard Jessica say inside the room. Vi, being Jessica's personal nickname for her younger, adopted sister Violet. Elizabeth had chosen that name for the girl she had found that November day, after the color of the nearly ruined blanket that had most likely saved the girls life.

"But the man with no nose," Violet said with slight hiccups. It was clear that after waking up with a scream she had begun crying.

"He's not real Vi, so you don't have to worry about him, I promise." Jessica reassured. This wasn't the first time in the two years that Violet had lived with them, that Jessica had beaten her mother to the punch and found herself comforting Violet after the girl woke up from a nightmare. "Do you want to sleep with me tonight?" Jessica asked after a minute of soft sniffing and shushes. Violet didn't answer verbally but Elizabeth could imagine that she nodded her head at that suggestion like she did when Elizabeth asked that same question. "Alright come on munchkin." At this Elizabeth quietly made her way back to her own room with confidence that Jessica would handle anything else that would come up during the night. Elizabeth would talk with her in the morning, as she usually did when Jess comfoted Violet in the night.

Elizabeth woke around seven, as she usually did, even after waking up at three by Violet's scream. After once more putting on her dressing gown, she made her way to the kitchen where she found Jessica already awake and holding a cup of coffee in her hands. "Good morning Jessica, sleep well?" she asked, walking to the cupboard to get some breakfast for herself. Jessica looked at her mother as she walked in, and gave a slight grimace at her question.

"As well as could be when you have a three, almost four, year old in the same bed as you." Jessica replied, as she took another sip from her coffee.

Elizabeth couldn't help but smile at that. "You know you were just as bad when you were that age." she said to Jessica. "In fact, I can clearly remember that time when you were four and-"

"Please don't finish that thought, mom." Jessica said, quickly interrupting her mother, with a mortified realization of what story her mother was about to bring up.

"You sure you don't want to hear the story?" Elizabeth said, in a slightly sing song voice, as she found the cereal she was looking for, Raisin Bran.

"No, No, it's fine. I have to go and look at how Vi is doing anyways." Jessica said quickly, hoping that if she left the room, her mother would drop it. Right as she got up to leave, Violet walked into the kitchen, rubbing her eyes.

"Great, now I have another audience member." Elizabeth joked, as Violet walked in. Jessica sat down, slightly dejected. "How did you sleep, my little princess? And what would you like for breakfast?"

"Mommy, there was a scary man in my room after I went to sleep. He had no nose. He was really scary." Violet said, almost animatedly.

Elizabeth simply nodded, and when Violet finished, she said, "Well, there is no man in this apartment at all, and we can go room by room to show you. Just us three, and we're all sitting right here at the dining table." as she started hugging Violet and rubbing her back. "Now, do you want a super awesome breakfast at the Candy Shop diner? I'll even let you pick out some Candy, and we can forget last night happened." At hearing this Violet nodded her head vigorously. Elizabeth smiled at the girl. "Alright then let's go get you dressed and we can go, ok?" She then looked to Jessica as Violet quickly left the kitchen to go pick the clothes she wanted to wear. "Would you like to join us, my dear daughter?"

Jessica looked at her mother, then looked toward the hallway that Violet had disappeared down, and gave a smile of her own. She sighed and quietly said, "Yeah why not, I mean we won't have too many more chances like this when I head to school in September. I'm really going to miss you and Violet when I go to college. Who's gonna mess around with her, and keep the monsters out of her closet?"

Elizabeth couldn't help but laugh a bit at that. "Jessica I'm a mother of five, do you really think I couldn't handle a few monsters in closets?"

"Psssh, mother of five, what do you know?" Jessica said jokingly, "So old, it hurts to put your slippers on each morning. Anyways, I'm gonna go get ready for the _amazing _Candy Diner." Jessica finished off her cup of coffee quickly and put her mug in the sink. `

"Don't diss the diner, young lady, it's where your father and I met." Elizabeth said in a mock accusatory tone.

"_Yes Mom. _We all know the story," Jessica responded, as she walked down the hallway to her room.

Elizabeth shook her head, as she finished her coffee. She rinsed both cups, and put them out to dry. As she walked to Violet's room to check on her, she felt a chill go down her back. Like someone, or something was watching her. She kept that feeling in the back of her head, but pushed on as if nothing was wrong. The rains from last night had finally stopped, it looked like it was going to be a beautiful day.

Early September, 1995

The sun was shining lightly through a layer of clouds as Elizabeth helped Violet with get ready for her first day of first grade. However, Violet was giving her trouble, just like all her other kids, when it came to first grade.

"But mom I don't want to go, I want to stay with you. What if the man with no nose shows up?" Violet whined as Elizabeth finished getting her backpack together.

"The man with no nose is just a dream, Vi. He will not show up. And I'm just five minutes from the school, if anything happens." Elizabeth said. "Besides don't you want to make new friends?" After Jessica had decided to study art at the University of California, Los Angeles, Violet had become rather shy around others, especially kids her own age.

"But what if they make fun of me for my scar?" Violet asked brushing her bangs over her forehead. The small, lightning bolt shaped scar had always been a bit of a sore point to Violet. Children and adults alike would always ask her questions about it, and at least once Elizabeth had received a visit from CPS after a daycare worker had called them about it.

"Don't you think people would find it cool? Especially since it looks like a lightning bolt?" Elizabeth said.

"No. If I hate it, all the other kids will find it weird too." Violet said, like she was stating a simple fact.

"Nobody will hate it. I think it makes you look a lot cooler, and who doesn't want a lightning bolt for a scar? It's a lot better than some of the scars I've seen at the homeless shelter." Elizabeth said. Though she was trying to reassure her daughter, Elizabeth herself did wonder how such an odd shaped scar had been made. It never sat well with her, because the only ways she could imagine a shape like that being made, was if it was made deliberately by someone. "If there are any issues, I'll be in City Hall, and it just across the park, so you don't need to worry about a thing. And after school, we'll walk down the street to Shake Shack, and get Milkshakes, but only if you go to school, and have a good day, okay?" She said.

Violet nodded, and quietly asked, "What happens if the man with no nose is there?"

"If the man with no nose is there, I will protect you, with my life, before he can hurt you. Nothing will happen to you, while I am still alive, got it?" Elizabeth said seriously. "Now, if you don't hurry up, we're going to miss the train, and if we miss the train, you're going to be late for your first day."

With a dejected nod, Violet realized there was no getting out of going to school. Although Violet was dreading walking through the door of her classroom, she was surprised when her mother's word's rang true, and one of her classmates thought her lightning bolt scar was cool.

"And then during play time this girl Abby was really nice to me and let me play Barbies with her!" Violet rambled excitedly to her mother as she enjoyed the promised shake after her day at school. "Can I get another milkshake after school tomorrow?" She excitedly asked, "Please?"

"No, milkshakes are only for special occasions. What's the special occasion tomorrow?" Elizabeth asked.

"It's Friday. Fridays are always special." Violet said.

Elizabeth smiled and shook her head at her daughter. "Young lady, not all Fridays are special occasions, unless your birthday falls on a Friday this year. Last I remembered, it's Tuesday this year."

Violet looked at her mother, with the best puppy dog eyes she could muster. Her mother stared her down with a steel eyed glare that could only come from dealing with New Yorkers on a daily basis.

Early June, 1996

The car was idling, waiting outside the school for Violet to come out the doors. They were doing their end-of-school-year trip to Eric and Sarah's home in Bayville. After almost a decade working in Wall Street, Eric was finally promoted to Senior Partner at a trading firm, and Sarah had finished her residency, at New York-Presbyterian Lower Manhattan Hospital, they finally started buying houses in Bayville, NY. They wanted somewhere close to New York, that could be a getaway from the stressful lives they had.

As Elizabeth was glancing at the clock. It was 1:55. Just five more minutes until Violet came running out, and they could start they summer family week. Every year, Elizabeth tried to force all the family to meet at either of the homes that Eric and Sarah had bought for a few days over the week. Jessica had been missing from them for the last few years, while she was in college, but as she graduated next year, it would be a full house, or full cabin, again. She finally got to the Punk Rock station, and left it on there, while she waited for Violet.

She glanced at the clock. 1:57pm.

In three minutes, Violet would be bombarding her ears about today was the best and worst of her day at school, so she tried to enjoy the next song as much as she could before making the roughly 2 hour drive, just around 40 miles east.

She looked at the clock again. 1:59.

Within seconds, kids would be surging out of the double doors of the school. Elizabeth turned the music down, so that she could focus on spotting Violet, before they set off on their journey. She glanced at the Shake Shack milkshakes in the car. One medium, peanut butter milkshake for Violet, and one medium, salted caramel milkshake for herself.

The clock ticked to 2:00. Nothing happened.

And then, a loud school bell rang. Nothing noticeable happened for almost 30 seconds.

Then, waves of children started surging outside. Classroom, after classroom coming outside, in the hot 84F weather. Elizabeth turned the A/C up, knowing that Violet likes it colder when she gets in the car. With children running around in front of the school, it was a little harder to see Violet. However, after five kids, she had a keen eye for her own children.

Then Violet ran out the front door, and started looking for her mother's car. After almost 10 seconds, she found it, and started running towards it, hoping to get out of the heat. She thought the weather was around 20F too hot, much preferring spring and fall weather around 60-65f. As she jumped into the car, she instantly gravitated to the milkshakes. "Ooh, ooh, ooh. Which one's mine, mommy?" She asked, hoping to quickly slurp down the milkshake, as they started the drive.

"Relax honey, your milkshake is in the same spot as always." Elizabeth said, "But you can't drink any until you buckle that seat belt there." She turned off the radio, and handed back Violet's milkshake, when she heard the seat belt click into the mechanism. She started to drive away from the school, happy to get out of the traffic that surrounded the school. "How was your day, honey? Anything interesting happen?" She asked, as she drove away.

Two and a half hours later - At the beach house

As they turned on the private street to their home on the beach, the thunderclouds that were predicted for later that night, started to make an appearance. Neither of them took any notice, as they were still a distance away, and they hadn't planned to do anything major for the rest of the night. As Elizabeth looked in the rear view mirror, to check for cars before the left turn, a goat walked across the street, however she took no notice to it, and thought of what to do tomorrow. Most of the activities started when Eric and Sarah arrived with their families, the next day. Eric had one son, that was 3 years younger than Violet, and Sarah was 4 months pregnant with her first child. Violet and Josh, Eric's son, tended to play around on the beach, and on the SNES while most of the adults tended to sit on the porch, just relaxing away from all the stress and traffic of New York City.

Elizabeth parked the car, right to the side of the walkway up to the cabin. Before she started searching for the keys to the cabin, she asked Violet, "Can you please take the trash in the car, to the trash can on the side of the cabin?"

"Do I have to? I don't wanna. I want to go inside, and play Kirby on the SNES. I'm almost at the next level, and I want to get there before Josh gets there." Violet said, almost whining.

"Or if you don't take out the trash, I could take the controllers from you, until school starts again. Do you want to be grounded again for not doing your chores?" Elizabeth said, hoping the threat of grounding would motivate her to do the chores.

"Fine, I'll take the milkshake cups to the trash." Violet said, dejectedly. She quickly grabbed the two milkshake cups, and was about to run to the trash can. The faster she did it, the faster she could get inside and turn on Kirby, and start playing.

"I said _all _the trash, not just the milkshakes, young lady. Take the empty milkshake cups, and the food wrappers too." Elizabeth said, as she got out of the car, with the house keys in her right hand. With a pout, Violet went back to the car and grabbed the rest of the trash from the car and put it into the trash can. "It wasn't so hard was it?" Elizabeth asked as she unlocked the house.

Still with a pout on her face, "No, it wasn't." Violet said, as she walked up to her mother. Elizabeth smiled at her as they both made their way into the home. It was a rather large home with 5 bedrooms, 2 and a half bathrooms, and a living room leading to the porch overlooking the beach and ocean.

"Alright I'm gonna bring the bags in. You can start playing your games." Elizabeth told Violet, as they got into the house. With a beaming smile, Violet immediately ran into the living room, sat down in front of the TV and started to play on the SNES. As she turned the volume up, the Kirby theme song started to play. With a small shake of her head, Elizabeth went back to the car to bring the bags in. While she was bringing in the bags, the phone started to ring. Elizabeth went to the phone, and answered it. As she listened to the person on the other end, a frown started to form on her face. "Alright Eric, I understand." she said, with a small sigh. "Just make sure everything is fine, and we'll see you in a few days." She was quiet for another minute as Eric said something else, and before she responded a smile had replaced the frown she had. "Love you too, kiddo." With that she hung up the phone and went to the living room to tell Violet what she had just learned. "Violet, I have a little bad news. Eric, Ashley, and Josh won't be here for a few more days. It seems that Josh had a bit of a fall at home, and they had to take him to get it looked at." She said, with an apologetic tone.

Rather than remain in a hypnotized state, as most kids were when playing video games, Violet paused the game, looked to her mother. "I hope he's okay. It will be boring without Josh to play with."

Elizabeth smiled at her daughter. "I hope so too, sweetheart, I hope so too." She walked back outside to check if there was anything left in the car.

A few hours later

The night was clear and calm, the thunderstorm had just passed just a little while ago. Elizabeth was sitting out on the porch, looking up at the stars as Violet was tucked into her bed, hopefully, sleeping. She had a warm cup of tea next to her, hoping it would help stave off some of the chill that was always present on the coast at night. After a short time Elizabeth got up, grabbing her nearly empty cup and made her way back into the house. While she was rinsing the cup, she heard something that made her uneasy. "Violet, are you still awake?" She asked, as she set the cup down. She started walking towards Violet's bedroom. The sound grew louder and louder. It was almost like nails on a chalkboard, like someone or something was scratching the concrete outside. She got outside Violet's bedroom, and the sound was pretty loud. She slowly opened Violet's bedroom, and as she inched open the door, the window and part of the wall exploded inward. All sense of stealth forgotten, Elizabeth throw open the door, and rushed in, as Violet screamed out. Standing in the wreckage of the bedroom wall was some sort of creature, but Elizabeth couldn't make out exactly what was there.

"Mommy!" Violet screamed, seeing her mother. She began to scramble out of her bed, but before she could reach her mother, the creature charged towards Violet, snarling. While Elizabeth couldn't make out the creature, Violet could clearly see the creature. It had black, leathery bat wings, with a mouth full of sharp fangs, and it's eyes glowed like embers of an unnatural fire.

Grabbing Violet, the creature snarled at the child. "Spawn of the sea, you offend my lord, and so I've been sent to collect you." At this point, Violet, as any seven year old would, lost control and wet herself. Smelling the urine on the girl, the Fury smiled an evil grin. She quietly chuckled, and said, "Your fear will make this all the more satisfying." Raising her hands, tipped with razor sharp claws, the Fury getting ready to end the girls life, when a book hit the side of her head. She slowly turned her head towards the door. The Fury leveled her fiery gaze at the person who would dare to assault her.

Elizabeth stood in the room, her arm extended, and her gaze terrified but steady. "Don't you dare hurt my child." She said in a very slightly shaky voice.

The Fury laughed cruelly at Elizabeth, dropping Violet from her grasp. "You think you can stand against me, mortal?" Elizabeth stood steady as the Fury turned to her. The Fury had to applaud the mortal that now stood before her, as even though she probably couldn't see her form clearly, she still stood tall and defiant. "Very well. For your courage and defiance I will grant you a swift and painful death."

Hearing this Elizabeth's eyes widened. Thinking quickly, she rushed forward and lunged towards Violet, while she managed to evade the Fury. She quickly grabbed Violet, before jumping out of the ruined wall. The Fury was surprised at Elizabeth's actions, and couldn't react quite fast enough. After a few mere seconds, the Fury had burst through the hole, from the room. She quickly saw Elizabeth running towards the beach, and flew after her. Within a fraction of a second, the Fury was behind Elizabeth and with a deft swipe of her talons Elizabeth went flying to the ground. Violet tumbled out of Elizabeth's arms and rolled closer to the sea. A wave from the ocean crashed onto the beach, an arms length away from Violet.

The Fury glared down at the prone form of Elizabeth, the slash wounds on her back starting to show on the back of her shirt, the deep red contrasting against the grey shirt she had on. "Foolish mortal, I was going to let you die a quick death, before taking the sea brat, but now you shall watch as I rip her to shreds." Hearing this, Elizabeth tried to reach out to Violet, but the wounds she suffered combined with her age made most movement from her impossible. Elizabeth's back, and legs bleeding at a rate that would make most doctors nervous. Slowly, almost savoring it, the Fury advanced on Violet, who had sat up. With terror in her eyes, she tried backpedaling away from the Fury, closer to the ocean. She just couldn't move fast enough, and the Fury was on her. Grabbing her up with one arm, and raising her into the air, the Fury lifted her other talon and prepared to end the girl's life. Violet closed her eyes, her tears dampening her shirt, too scared to continue to watch what was happening. Before the Fury could deliver the final blow, a voice rang out from a short distance away.

"Hey! Drop the kid, Bird Brain!" The Fury snapped her head around, and saw another child standing atop of a sand dune, a spear held in her hand, its tip glowing in the night. The child was dressed in a jacket and pants that had based on looks alone, seen better days, with dirt, and other grime covering it, and an odor she could smell, despite the many feet between them. Still stunned, The Fury didn't react as the child rushed down the dune and nearly impaled the Fury on her spear. It was due to the child's obvious inexperience that saved the Fury from the fatal blow. Quickly flying back slightly, the Fury finally got a clear scent from the child other than dirt and filth, the crisp clean smell of ozone.

Smelling this the Fury smiled and let loose an evil laugh. "First I find the sea brat, and now the sky brat delivers herself to me, oh what a lucky day it is. My great master will be pleased when I return. " Dropping Violet, the Fury devoted her full attention to the now identified girl. The foolish demigod that would challenge her. "Bring it on, you foolish child. I'll even let you take the first run at me, before I rip you to shreds, and deliver your head to my master."

And so the girl raised her spear. "I'm Thalia, Daughter of Zeus, soon to be killer of hideous bird ladies, and with the help of the gods above, I will end you." With that, Thalia charged forward, spear raised ready to run the Fury through. The Fury laughed and shifted her body slightly. What was going to be a fatal blow, missed by a mere inch. The Fury then raised her talon again and was about to bring it down on Thalia, when there was a sudden crash of waves. Both turned to the ocean, seeing Violet being surrounded by the water that now seemed to refuse to recede from the beach. A figure began to rise from behind Violet. It took the shape of a man, a gleaming trident held in his watery hand.

Hefting the trident the shape spook out in a rumbling voice that sounded like waves crashing violently against the shore. "You shall not harm my daughter or my niece , servant of Hades." With a mighty throw the trident left his hand and impaled the sand in front of the Fury.

Shaken from the trident impacting in front of her, the Fury looked to the figure. "Lord Hades shall hear about this, Poseidon." She hissed out before taking flight and leaving quickly.

Poseidon looked to sky at the retreating form of the Fury. "Hmph, let him hear about it." He then looked to Violet who was still shaking in fear of the events that had transpired. "Child, look at me." Too afraid to refuse, Violet looked up at the watery figure of Poseidon. "You are safe for now, but not for long." He then looked towards Thalia, who had yet to move from her spot, her spear still raised. "Niece, take my daughter with you, protect her and train her. I would be forever grateful to you." Thalia, too stunned at being addressed directly by a god, could only nod her head. "Good," turning back to Violet he said, "Child, take the weapon over there with you, and it shall protect you."

Violet continued to stare at Poseidon and finally she managed to find her voice again. "But, but mommy-" She couldn't finish her statement as new tears began to fall from her eyes.

Poseidon looked up the beach at the now corpse that lay on the beach. He couldn't help the sigh as he turned back to his daughter. "I'm sorry my child, she is gone and you need to leave this place quickly. Otherwise, other monsters will come here for you. Please leave this place, with the other girl, and she can protect you, I promise." Poseidon looked at both of them for a moment, before addressing them both, "Run. Run, hard and fast, and don't look back. Learn as much as you can, both from each other, and those around you, on the hard journey that lies ahead."

Violet's sobs increased but her strength should at that moment as she nodded her head. She started to stand on shaky legs, tears falling freely into the waves and looked at Poseidon and asked the question on her mind. "Who are you?"

Poseidon smiled gently at his child and knelt down to look in her eyes. "I am your father, Violet, and I'm proud of the strength you have shown tonight. Hold onto that and it will serve you well." With that, the image of Poseidon began to fall back into the ocean. Left there, was a final message to his daughter before fading completely. "I do love you my child, never forget that." After all that had happened in the last 15 minutes, Thalia and Violet were finally the only people left alive on the beach, as far as they could see.

Thalia approached her new cousin, placed a comforting hand on her shoulder, and said "I know it's hard, but we should go now, kid. Let's go back to the house and quickly grab some clothes and food, and get out of here." Thalia then turned and started to move back towards the house.

Violet hiccuped another small sob and nodded her head and started following Thalia, though she stopped next to her mother and said, "I'm sorry I couldn't save you from the bad bird lady, mommy. I'll be good and I promise I'll see you again. I love you." After saying her final words to her mother, she continued back to the house, picking up the trident, as her tears continued to fall on the beach. Her journey starting in tragedy. What she didn't know was how long this journey would last, and how many people close to her she would lose along the way.


	2. Someone Who Cares

**Alright here is Chapter 2 of Violet's Playlist. I'm honestly kind of shocked at how many of you have already decided to Favorite and Follow the story so thanks for that. **

**Also a general note about the ages of characters for this first part of the story, Thalia is two years older than Violet while Luke will be four years older than Violet and consequently Violet will end up being about four years older than Annabeth. **

**And now one last general note before the chapter. The first two scenes of this chapter happen the year that Violet turns 7, the third scene happens the spring of the year that Violet will turn 8, the fourth scene happens about a month or so after Violet turns 9 (so Thalia is still 10 as her birthday isn't until December), and then lastly the Final scene of the chapter happens in about late January early February of the year that Violet will turn 11. **

**Oh right I also made a few small changes to Chapter 1, nothing you will have to reread just a few different word placements and a few small grammatical changes. Anyway on to the story. **

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Chapter 2

Someone Who Cares

Late September, 1996

It was a cool fall day as Thalia and Violet made their way through a forest in northern Virginia. The meager supplies they had managed to scrape together were running short. They were making their way towards a relatively small town, hoping to get some food together, along with some winter clothing to help them through the coming winter. The clothes they had on them were beginning to fray and tear and they knew it wouldn't be long before they were useless as clothes or protection.

"How much longer?" Violet asked trying, and failing, to keep the whine out of her voice. She was getting tired. Even after months traveling, she still wasn't completely used to walking everywhere. They had been walking since 6 in the morning.

Thalia sighed. She had grown used to Violet whining and complaining about things but even still she got annoyed herself every time Violet would complain or whine. "We're still a while away Violet, so come on once we get there we'll find a place to sleep for the night."

Violet looked at Thalia, then looked to the ground. She could tell when Thalia was getting annoyed with her and she always felt bad about it. They were both in the same situation, and she knew it wouldn't help either of them if she kept whining. With a steely, determined look appearing in her eye, she sighed, then hefted the worn out backpack she was wearing, She continued walking alongside. The small charms bracelet kept hitting the metal frame of her backpack, as she swung her arms. Shortly after that fateful night on the beach, Violet found out that the trident her father had left her could change into a bracelet. The small charm bracelet made carrying her trident around much easier.

After another few more hours of walking, the two girls finally made it to the outskirts of the town. The sun was low in the sky at this point and both Violet and Thalia knew they were going to need to find a place to sleep for the night. They eventually found a playground with a few pieces that would protect them from the wind, as well as any rain that might crop up in the night. After finding their spot to sleep they made their way into the town looking for anything they could get easily. It took them only a few minutes before they happened upon a gas station. Between the two of them, they had a few dollars from the previous town they had traveled through. They walked into the gas station and managed to get a few granola bars and a couple bottles of water. It would last them maybe a day or two with the last of the other food they had on them. As the sun sank lower in the sky Violet and Thalia made their way back to the playground to try and sleep for the night. After having a small dinner of water and a granola bar each, they both settled under their light coats and used their backpacks as pillows tried to sleep.

A Few Days Later

Thalia and Violet collapsed, gasping for air, in the middle of a forest clearing as the sun hung low in the sky. Violet's trident lay on the ground next to her while Thalia used her spear as a makeshift crutch. The two of them had been running for over an hour from a monster that had found and attacked them in the previous town they were in. They had managed to lure it away from the town but neither of them had managed to kill it and so as a last resort they had run. The sounds of the forest were all around them, but they could still hear the monster in the distance.

"Come on Violet, we need to keep moving or that thing is gonna be on us again." Thalia said, as she used her spear to push herself up. Though she was trying to sound strong the exhaustion was weighing on her just as much as it was on Violet.

"I. Can't. Keep. Up." Violet gasped as she tried to catch her breath. Violet began coughing violently, after she gasped out her response. As Violet stopped gasping and coughing, the monster broke through the trees. It was huge, nearing the size of an elephant, though it had a black horse like head with three horns protruding from its forehead. Thalia gripped her spear and raised it, while her legs shook under her. The monster let out a roar. Then there was a symphony of sound, and a whine from the monster, as arrows impaled it. Gravity started taking hold of the body, before it dissolved into gold dust. Thalia let out a sigh of relief, as she saw the monster crumble before her eyes. Her hold on her spear weakened as she started drooping towards the ground. Just after Thalia dropped to the forest floor, a group of girls dressed in silver clothing came out of the trees and encircled Thalia and Violet. All the girls had bows drawn with arrows notched ready to fire at anything else that might come out of the trees. Violet, still trying to catch her breath looked up at the girls that now surrounded them, her eyes growing wide at the sight. Thalia had a similar reaction to their saviors.

One of the girls approached the two young demigods and offered a hand out to Violet, while also looking at Thalia. "Come on, it is not safe here." She said. The girl looked to be about fifteen with short cut brown hair and light blue eyes. Violet looked at the girl, then to Thalia, almost as if to ask for guidance. Thalia looked around at the other girls, then back to Violet and nodded her head slightly. Seeing this, Violet reached out and took the girls offered hand. The girl helped Violet up, but as soon as she was standing up right again her legs gave out from under her. Seeing this the girl crouched down with her back facing Violet. "Here, I can carry you."

"Thank you." Violet said softly as she pulled herself up with her arms around the older girls neck. Once Violet had her arms in place the older girl stood up and put her arms under Violet's legs and hefted her into a better position on her back.

The girl then turned back to Thalia. "Do you need any help as well?" She asked, while giving her a once over.

"No. I think I can walk by myself." Thalia said, as she used her spear almost like a cane, or crutch.

The girl nodded her head and turned to the rest of the girls in the clearing. "Alright girls we're moving." She called. Almost as one the rest of the girls moved to cover their leader and the two demigods now with them. It took only a few minutes before the group came up to a camp of tents with a large fire roaring in the center of the camp. A few spits rotated near the fire cooking a variety of animals. The girl who carried Violet on her back walked into the center of the camp beckoning Thalia to follow her. The rest of the group scattered across the camp, a few going into tents while others made their way to other girls and began to chat with them. As the lead girl set Violet down in front of the fire she turned around with a smile on her face. "I never introduced myself did I?" She asked with a sheepish laugh. Violet just looked at her and shook her head. "Well I'm Abigail, what's your name?"

"I'm Violet and she's Thalia." Violet said, in a small voice. She wasn't sure what to think about the group that had rescued them. On one hand, they were very helpful, but on the other, after all the travelling, they had too many incidents, where a lot of those that helped them, eventually tried to harm them. "Who are you?" Violet asked Abigail after a few moments of silence. Thalia echoed Violet's question just a moment later a hint of suspicion in her voice.

"I can answer their questions Abigail. Go help Ariana with dinner preparations." A young voice said from behind Violet and Thalia. Both of them turned around where they sat to see a girl in her early teens with shoulder length auburn hair and piercing silvery yellow eyes. She wore black leggings underneath a silver tunic.

"Of course, Lady Artemis." Abigail replied as she turned and walked over to another girl who sat at the opposite end of the fire and was tending to the meat that was cooking over it. The girl looked to be in her early teens, with long blonde hair, and a pale she looked up to Abigail, her bright blue eyes caught the firelight and made them twinkle.

Artemis fixed Thalia and Violet with a calculating gaze. "So. You are the two that my hunters brought back with them." The two of them nodded their heads. "It seems you were very lucky that we decided to make camp here then. Both of you are welcome in the camp for tonight, so enjoy your rest." Thalia and Violet shared a look between them, one that Artemis noticed. "You have questions for me?" She asked them.

Thalia and Violet nodded at this. Though it was Thalia that voiced the first question. "Um, who are you?"

Artemis suppressed a slight chuckle at the question. The girls were young. Even if they knew how to survive by themselves they wouldn't know who she was. "Yes I suppose that would be your first question." she said, a small smile still on her face. "I am Artemis, Goddess of the Moon, and of the Wilderness, Protector of Maidens, and Leader of the Hunters you see around you."

As one both Thalia and Violet exclaimed "You're a god!?" Neither were sure how to act in this situation. All the times Thalia had been around her father, he demanded obedience and respect and her. Violet had no knowledge on how to act either, as her interaction with Poseidon had been limited to brief conversations and his voice in her head once. Thinking of her father Thalia stood, despite her exhaustion, and bowed before Artemis. Following her lead, Violet also stood and bowed. "I'm sorry for our shout, Lady Artemis." Thalia said, still bowing.

Artemis suppressed another chuckle at the two girls. "Raise your head, both of you. A little leeway is allowed with children. Besides we are sisters are we not, Thalia Grace?" Thalia's head shot up at this as she did not remember giving her last name to anyone, not even to Violet. "And I suppose that would make us cousins, Violet Pendolton."

Violet looked up at that. She tilted her head to the side and scrunched her face up a bit, thinking. "What's a cousin?" Violet asked after a minute.

Aretmis smiled down at Violet. "A cousin is someone whose mother or father is a sibling to someone else's mother or father." Violet still looked confused and Aretmis sighed quietly at this. "My father and your father are brothers, so we are cousins." Violet let out a noise of understanding when Artemis was finished with her explanation. "Regardless the two of you are safe here. You may stay the night with us however in the morning we must depart." Thalia looked at her sister. question in her eyes, one that she was too nervous to actually voice it, one that Artemis understood all the same. "I'm sorry I can not allow you to join the hunt at this time. The both of you are too young, and though you seem to have been able to survive on your own, it would be wrong for me to force the hunters oaths on you when you don't fully understand what they mean. Do not worry though, I will provide you with supplies for your journey. So as I said, rest for tonight, for tomorrow your journey continues." After saying her piece, Artemis left the two girls and proceeded back to her tent for the evening. Left by themselves again, Thalia and Violet continued to sit by the fire not sure what to do. Soon, bowls of food were being passed around, and more hunters began to gather around the fire. Though Thalia and Violet had entered the camp exhausted and scared, the night turned into the most restful night the two of them had in a number of weeks.

Mid March, 1997

Thalia and Violet stepped into the little hideout they had managed to make, in a forest somewhere in southern Virginia. It was simple, just a leaf roof held up by some small trees, with more leaves acted as walls. Inside laid a few swords, an extra spear for Thalia, a couple quivers of arrows, and a bow that Violet had taken to using, all made from Celestial Bronze. Both girls dropped their backpacks in one corner of the hideout, the silvery material of the backpacks giving off the same faint glow as the weapons around the hideout. After dropping their packs, they headed outside and began to collect some started to build a small fire, just outside the hideout. After the fire was going, Thalia retrieved her pack from the hideout and grabbed their food bag from it. She opened the bag and pulled out two cans of soup, and a few apples that she had managed to swipe from a grocery store while they had been in town. Violet had grabbed two water bottles, and a few small candy bars from her pack. Violet had managed to grab them from a gas station near the grocery market Thalia was at. .

Thalia took the knife that hung at her waist, and used it to open the soup before placing them close to the fire so that they would heat up. The knife was a silver hunting knife that had been gifted to her from Artemis along with the packs that they both carried, Violet had an identical knife on her as well.

"So what are we doing tomorrow Thalia?" Violet asked as they waited for their dinner to heat up.

"I figured we could try and practice a bit, you know there is a small river just over there." Thalia said as she pointed off behind Violet. At the mention of a river Violet's face lit up. After their meeting with the Hunters and learning exactly who her father was Violet had wanted to try and make the water move like she saw her father do at the beach on that night. So far, she had no noticeable success. Their meals had quickly heated up and the two fell into a comfortable silence, with the crackling of the fire and the sounds of the forest being the only noise as they ate. Once they had finished eating they went inside their hideout to get some sleep for the night.

As the sun shone down through the roof of leaves Thalia and Violet woke quickly from their sleep. Once they had a small breakfast of the apples Thalia had grabbed the night before and some more water the two of them made their way down to the small river in the forest. As the river came into sight Violet ran towards the river and jumped right into the middle of it. Though not deep, the river still came up to her waist.

Thalia laughed slightly at seeing her friends excitement about being able to control water. "Hey if you're going to splash around, try not to get me wet!" She called as Violet gained a look of constipation as she began to try and get the water to move to her will. Thalia shook her head at Violet's antics. Once it looked like Violet was gone in her own little world Thalia began her own practice with trying to create lightning. Similar to Violet Thalia had little success with this though she had been able to create small sparks of electricity, nothing like true lightning however. As the day progressed it looked Thalia was on her way to a breakthrough with her powers when out of nowhere she was assaulted by a torrent of bubbles coming from the river. Spinning around Thalia found Violet absolutely drowning in a sea of bubbles that had formed around her and were spilling quickly into the forest. It seemed the wind had carried a large chunk of the bubbles in Thalia's direction. Seeing that Violet was still lost in her own world Thalia called out to her, "Hey Violet open your eyes!"

At Thalia's shout Violet's eyes snapped open to see the mass of bubbles that had formed around her. After a minute of fighting Violet was able to break free from her self made prison of bubbles to see Thalia with bubbles still in her hair and on her clothes. An apologetic smile found its way onto Violet's face. "Sorry Thalia."

"It's fine, but I think we can be down with this for now. Come on Bubbles, we should grab some lunch." Thalia said as she turned and started making her way back to their hideout.

"Please don't let that be my nickname Thalia!" Violet called out as she ran slightly to catch up to Thalia.

"Hm, I'll think about it, Bubbles." She said with a small smirk on her face.

"Thalia." Violet whined as they continued their walk back to their hideout and then back into the nearby town to find their next meal.

Late August, 1998

Violet heaved a cry as her trident pierced the flesh of a harpy, and watched as it crumbled into golden dust. This was the third time in two days, that monsters had managed to find her and Thalia as they continued to move South following after Amaltheia. Thalia had told Violet that the goat had been a sign from her dad when she first ran away and that occasionally over the few years she had been travelling Amaltheia would appear and lead her to different had mostly been weapons caches and places that were safe. Though Thalia did admit that Amaltheia had lead her to Violet, or specifically the area around the Pendolton beach house and she had heard the Fury attacking Violet and her mother. So it was that whenever Amaltheia showed up, regardless of what they were doing Thalia had always insisted on following her, which is why they packed up their hideout and followed Amaltheia.

"Hey Thalia I got the last one!" Violet called across the clearing they had decided to use as their battle field. Violet looked over her shoulder as Thalia impaled the last harpy on her spear.

Once the harpy had crumbled to dust Thalia looked over to Violet, a triumphant grin on her face. "Sorry Bubbles, point goes to me."

Violet pouted at the nickname Thalia had given her. "Stop calling me that! It was one time!"

Thalia could only laugh at Violet's now predictable reaction to her nickname. "Nope, you earned it, and now you're stuck with it."

Violet continued to pout but she did ask a question she had been wondering about for the last couple days. "So what do you think Amaltheia," she said the goat's name slowly sounding it out to get it right, "wants us to find at this new place?"

Thalia thought about it for a minute before responding. "Don't know. Hopefully it's another weapons place, we're almost out of arrows and I could really use a new spear." It was true, unlike Violet's trident which had some sort of magic on it to keep it in peak condition, Thalia's spear looked like it was ready to fall apart. The bronze spear head had started to chip and corrode, while the shaft was splintering and had to be wrapped in old clothes. The last time she had fought without the cloth wrapped around it, she had gotten splinters that took a week to fall out. After rewrapping Thalia's spear, and searching for any spoils, the two of them continued on their walk in the last direction they had seen Amaltheia.

Soon they came across a road and after following it for a short while they came across a sign that read 'Charleston 10 Miles'. They continued on their walk along the road until they heard something in the forest. It sounded like a fight was going on, they could hear metal clashing against metal and even the sound of someone yelling out as they struck with a weapon. Sharing a glance between them, Thalia and Violet both quickly made their way into the forest following the sounds. It was only a brief run into the forest, when they spotted the fight they heard. It was a fight between a boy in his early teens with sandy blonde hair wielding a sword that shone with the same bronze light that all divine weapons held, fighting against what could only be a dragon. The dragon easily stood taller than the boy even while it stood on all four legs.

It was clear to the two girls that the boy probably wouldn't last much longer. Without much thought, they both readyed their weapons, and charged forth into the fight. Initially the boy was surprised at the new additions to the fight, however he soon regained his focus. With the addition of two new targets, the attention of the dragon was split. As the dragon focused on one of the targets, the other two would focus on going on the offensive. . Eventually the dragon began to tire, at the same time as Violet and Thalia were also losing their stamina. However it would be Violet who would be the one to strike the fatal blow on the dragon. She managed to use her trident as a pole vault and came down on the dragon from above, and used her weight to drive her trident through the dragon's skull. The impact caused imperceptible tremors to spread across the the dragon began to crumble into golden dust the three demigods caught their breath. Once the situation had calmed down and the three of them could breathe normally again it was the boy who spoke first.

"Thanks for the help. I don't think I could have lasted much longer if you two hadn't jumped in."

"Well it's what we're used to at this point." Thalia said walking up to the boy. "I'm Thalia, the pint sized dragon slayer over there is Violet, but feel free to call her Bubbles." She finished with a small smirk.

"Hey don't get him started on that to!" Violet protested.

The boy couldn't help but laugh at the two girls antics. "I'm Luke. You two are like me, aren't you?" He asked after giving his name.

"If you mean we have gods as parents, then yeah we are." Thalia replied. It was at this moment that Thalia's spear finally decided it had seen enough battle and the tip fell from the shaft. "Shoot. Now I really do need a new weapon."

"Hey, I think I found what the goat was leading us to." Violet called, from slightly inside the cave that the dragon had been protecting. Luke and Thalia glanced at each other, and Thalia shrugged as she made her way towards the cave. Once inside the cave, the two other demigods saw what had made Violet call out. Weapons and armor, a lot of them. Some of the weapons were made from bronze like the ones they had been using, a number of them were made of silver, like the ones Thalia and Violet had seen the Hunters of Artemis carry almost two years ago, and a few of them seemed to be made out of gold. The armor on the other hand was almost completely useless to the three demigods, as it looked like the armors were sized to fit adults, not slightly malnourished kids. As they dug through the treasure horde, Violet refilled the small quiver she carried with a few different arrows she could find, Luke grabbed a second sword as well as a leather shield that would be slightly small for an adult but fit his arm near perfectly.

Thalia found a small black can that had an aerosol top on it. Turning it over in her hands a few times she pushed on the top of the can experimentally and found that the can was actually a spear in disguise. "Hey Bubbles I found a spear like your trident!" She called out excitedly.

Violet looked up at that and came over to take a look at the spear. "Really it turns into a bracelet like mine?" She asked Thalia.

Thalia shook her head. "No it's some weird can." She said as she began to test out the spear. It seemed that the spear was balanced specifically for her. The reach was just right for her, every thrust didn't leave her trying to keep the spear level, and even the overall weight of the weapon was just right for her. As she rested the spear on her shoulder, she also put the end of the spear on the ground. She started leaning against the spear. As she put more pressure on the spear, it suddenly turned back into the can that Thalia had originally found it, causing her to lose her balance and fall onto the ground. Violet couldn't help but laugh at the misfortune of her friend. "Oh shut up Bubbles!" Thalia said heatedly, her face flushed in embarrassment.

At this point, Luke came over to the two girls and took a look at the can that had fallen from Thalia's hand when she fell over. "Hey I've seen cans like this before, it's called mace." Both Thalia and Violet gave him questioning looks. "What it's what it's called, I swear."

Thalia shrugged. "Whatever, all I know is that it's a cool magic spear, and it's mine now." She said, as she snatched the can back from Luke, slipping it into the pair of ripped up jeans she wore. She turned to Violet after pocketing her new spear. "Come on Bubbles, we should try and get to the city the sign mentioned, before it gets dark and all the stores close. We need a few new clothes and some more food."

Hearing the girls plans Luke piped up. "If you guys are trying to get stuff I can help. I'm really good at opening locks and stealing stuff." The girls looked at him for a minute, before turning back to each other and holding a silent conversation.

After a few minutes, Thalia turned back to Luke. "Sure, we could use another set of hands, and it will mean we can carry more stuff around so we won't have to go into cities more often."

"Thanks, I promise you won't regret it." Luke said as the new trio exited the cave and started to head back to the road.

Mid February, 2000

It was early in the morning as Luke, Thalia, and Violet entered into another city. Luke was wearing a dark green pull over sweatshirt with a pair of jeans and old sneakers. Thalia wore a grey zip-up hoodie underneath a black leather jacket with studs along the shoulders as well as a pair of black cargo pants and black boots they had managed to grab form a store a few towns back. Her previously long black hair had been cut incredibly short after a fight two days ago, and now instead of falling just past her shoulders it was now just about the length of Luke's hair. However, her hair was cut choppily as all they had to do the job were the hunting knives that Viollet and Thalia still carried on them. Violet who trailed behind slightly wore a faded purple jacket with a blue skirt and a pair of black leggings and like Luke she had a pair of old sneakers on. The trio had come to this city after Thalia had spotted Amaltheia one night during her watch. And so as with all other times she had immediately woken Luke and Violet and they had begun another chase after the magical goat.

"Damn, I lost her." Thalia swore as they entered an alleyway.

"Come on Thals, let's take a breather for a bit," Luke began. "We've been going for a while."

"Yeah you're right Luke." Thalia said as she sat down on an old crate that was in the alleyway.

Violet sat down beside Thalia as Luke sat on the ground leaning against a wall. Violet slung the backpack she had off and fished out three water bottles and tossed one to Luke before handing another to Thalia. "Gods, why can't that stupid goat have picked a better time to appear, instead of in the middle of the night?" Violet said as she took a healthy gulp from her own water bottle.

"Hey don't call her stupid, she-" Thalia began.

"I know Thalia, she always leads us to something good." Violet sighed. "I just wish she didn't have to show up in the middle of the night. It always sucks to travel at night."

At this Thalia sighed as well. "Yeah I get that. But I couldn't ignore her once she showed up."

"We know Thals, we still came with you right?" Luke said. "Well we're here now, might as well stock up before we go searching around again." Both Thalia and Violet agreed to that and so the three of them went out into the city to grab what they could before resuming the search for Amaltheia. After a few more hours of searching the three of them eventually found themselves in front of a statue.

"Who's Robert E. Lee?" Violet asked after reading the name on the statue. Both Luke and Thalia shook their heads at her question, neither knowing the answer. As Violet looked up from the statue she looked past it and saw Amaltheia standing in front of a rather large house. "Hey guys found her!" She said excitedly. The three of them then approached the house that Amaltheia stood before and once the three of them were standing in front of the fence Amaltheia gently nudged Thalia from behind as if she were urging her to go in.

"Well guys I guess we found what she wanted us to." Thalia said. "Who wants to explore an old house?"


	3. Chasing Pavements

**So sorry about the long absence of updates here. Some stuff happened in my life and I had a hard time writing for this story. Though I will say that the story is not abandoned. I love the story too much to do that to you guys. **

**Also for those of you that haven't picked up on it yet, the story is called Violet's Playlist for a reason. All the chapters will be titled after songs that I feel represent the fell of that chapter. So with that I will open things up for suggestions on songs that you may want to see in the story. **

**Also, again, this portion of the story, that is the history of Thalia, Luke, and Annabeth should last for two more chapters before I start to heavily introduce HP items into the story. So please a bit more continued patience is greatly appreciated. **

**One last thing here, Myself and Ethan found a timeline for the PJO books and we are going to use that for the dates in this story. So for the HP portions of the story the years will be moved forward roughly 9 years. Hope that doesn't cause any misunderstandings with the time frame for the HP parts of this story. So with that in mind I have updated the previous two chapters to include the years and months that each scene takes place in. **

**Alright that's it for the long AN, so please enjoy Chapter 3 of Violet's Playlist.**

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Chapter 3

Chasing Pavements

Violet reached out her hand for the handle of the door. Her fingers closed around the knob and gave it an experimental twist. The knob didn't move at all. Removing her hand she looked to Luke with a small grin on her face. "Hey Luke, can you do the thing?" She asked the older boy.

Luke shook his head slightly and pulled out two bobby pins from his pocket. Stepping up to the door, he put both bobby pins in, one towards the top and the other towards the bottom. His fingers began to glow slightly as he moved the pins in the correct way to click each tumbler into place. Within seconds there was an audible click as the door unlocked. Stepping back, he pulled his golf club from off his back pack. He had lost his sword a few months ago and they had run out of arrows for the sole bow they had between the three of them. They had not found a weapon cache for a while, so Luke had switched to the golf club he was holding. After stepping away from the door he gestured for Thalia to enter first. It was something they had decided on when they couldn't find another Celestial Bronze weapon for Luke, Thalia would enter first then Luke would go in and Violet would cover their rear. Thalia stepped up to the door and turned the knob and slowly pushed open the door. As the door opened further the three of them were assaulted by a wave of stale air that smelled of dust and mold. Screwing up her face a bit, as if to ward off the smell, Thalia walked into the house her spear held ready in her hands. Once she was in, Luke stepped in and after him. Violet went backwards into the house, looking around making sure nothing was about to ambush them from the yard. As soon as Violet had stepped past the door it swung closed and clicked lock again. All three of the demigods jumped as the door slammed shut.

"Shit," Thalia swore as she immediately went to try and open the door again. When she stepped in front of the door, it shimmered away, that left a wall as plain as the rest of the room. The three of them began to frantically look around the room for any means of escape. Violet got her head first and made a dash for the nearest window. As she reached the window, the drapes came to life, and started to encircle and trap her. Violet managed only a single shriek before the drapes tangled around her throat and began to strangle her. Hearing her shriek, both Thalia and Luke sprang to action to try and aid their friend. Thalia thrust her spear hoping to tear the curtain but everytime her spear got close the curtain moved out of the way of her strikes. It failed to move out of the way of Luke's golf club swing. Thalia started pulling Violet free, as Luke's golf club continued batting the curtain away. . As soon as Violet was free from the curtain, Thalia pulled her to the middle of the room. Luke followed closely, as his eyes darted around for other things that had the potential to attack. Once in the middle of the room, Violet collapsed to the floor coughing and gasping for air. Thalia and Luke stood protectively around her as she got her breath back. Getting back on her feet Violet looked around for her trident.

"Hey Squirt," Luke said once Violet was back on her feet. "Looking for this?" She turned to face him as he held out her trident.

"Thanks Luke," Violet said, still wheezing slightly. She took her trident back, the shaft clinking against her charm bracelet, now holding four charms beside the charm her trident becomes. She had found a new charm waiting for her each year on her birthday. The bracelet now held a seashell, a shark, a horse and a piece of jade adorning her bracelet. Standing in the middle of the living room, the three demigods looked around the room trying to figure out where to go next. After exploring around the first floor and finding the kitchen, where they resupplied a bit, as well as a bathroom, they decided to finally head to the second floor.

Treading carefully up the stairs weary of another attack they came to the second floor stepping into a hallway. Going down the right side they find a study as well as what appears to be a small library. Moving back to the stairs and then down the left side of the hallway finding only a single door. Stepping up quietly to the door Thalia and Violet flanked each side while Luke crouched down in front of the door. Placing his picks on the knob but his magic wasn't activitaing and so he placed his hand on the knob and turned. The door opened slowly and as the door opened he peered into the room beyond. In the room there appeared to be a desk with a man sitting behind it, on the wall that Luke could see there was a bookshelf that was filled with numerous books, even more on that one shelf than what they found in the library. As Luke was about to close the door and inform Thalia and Violet when a voice cut through the silence.

The three demigods jumped, as they heard a voice behind them say,"Ah you are finally here, please come in." Spinning around, they found themselves face to face with two creatures. They were thin and had short brown fur and piercing red eyes. One of the creatures opened its mouth and the same voice from before came out. "Please come into the room now." Thalia, not trusting the monsters or the man in the room, raised her spear and lunged forward at the one of the monsters. The spear tip hit the monster square in the shoulder but instead of piercing into the monster it simply bounced off. Moving faster than any of them could keep up with, the other one jumped at Thalia and racked its claws down her right arm. Crying out in pain, Thalia clutched at her now bleeding arm with her good arm. She held her spear in a death grip with her bad arm. Deciding that it was probably safer in the room with the unknown man, Violet and Luke grabbed Thalia and dragged her into the room. Slamming the door shut, Luke pushed his body against it as he tried to hold it closed. Violet threw off her backpack, quickly rifled through it, and pulled out a small thermos and a roll of bandages. Pulling out her silver hunting knife, Violet cut off the remains of Thalia's ruined sleeve. She opened the thermos, and poured the little bit of Nectar they had left over Thalia's wounds. Thalia gave a sharp his of pain . After she poured the Nectar over the wounds Violet unrolled the bandages and carefully wrapped Thalia's arm up. With Thalia's arm now bandaged and the monsters seemingly not trying to break into the room, the three of them were able to take a look around the rest of the room and rest easy for a moment. After catching their breaths, all three demigods turned to the man that still sat behind the desk. Grabbing her trident from where it rested beside her Violet leveled it at the man.

"Who are you?" she asked, a slight hesitation in her voice. Although she had fought numerous monsters over the last four years she had yet to truly fight another human, outside of the occasional spar against either Thalia or Luke. Though in a situation like the one they found themselves in now she felt she could do what needed to be done to protect her family.

The man gave a sigh and opened his mouth to speak before he closed it again and a voice echoed into the room from the other side of the door. "I'm sorry, it seems that the three of you will be the latest victims of my curse."

Luke's face twisted up into an angry scowl at the man's words. "The hell do you mean?!" Luke nearly shouted at the man.

The man let out a quiet sigh at Luke's angry exclamation. "My name is Halcyon Green, I am a child of Apollo." Halcyon's voice, the three of them assumed, continued from the other side of the door. "I was gifted with the ability to see into the future by my father. I was told to never speak of the future to anyone, however I saw the fate of one girl who was going to die and I told her of her fate." At this his voice paused as Halcyon reached into a drawer in his desk pulling out a bronze dagger and placing it on the desk. "The girl gifted me this dagger, as thanks for saving her life. My father, on the other hand, was very angry with me for going against his word. And so I was cursed to never be able to leave this place, my boyhood home, as well as to only be able to speak through the mouths of my guards, with my only purpose to guard a treasure my father left in my care." Again the voice outside the door paused as Hal reached into another drawer and pulled out a lock box and placed it on the desk next to the dagger. "Many demigods have come into this place trying to claim this treasure but all have fallen to the leucrota when the time comes for them to feed, which is a mere 5 hours away." He finished off his speech with a glance at the watch he wore.

"Are you serious?" Violet asked, fear slipping into her voice. She didn't want it all to end here. She didn't want to lose Luke or Thalia, she hadn't reunited with her other family yet. Gripping her trident tighter she made up her mind. It wouldn't end here, it couldn't. Thalia picked herself up off the ground favoring her left arm and turned to face Halcyon.

"We aren't going to die here, we've been in worse spots than this and came out of it." Thalia said with resolve. She turned to Luke then. "Hey if that box is locked you think you could do your thing on it?" she asked him. Luke gave a questioning look. "What? If Amaltheia led us here then it was probably because of whatever that treasure is, so we might as well grab it while we're here." Luke nodded his head at that. Thalia made a good point, Amaltheia had always led them to something important.

Luke walked carefully up to the desk, keeping an eye on Halcyon in case he tried anything. He pulled out his bobby pins and placed them inside the lock for the box. After a second his hands took on a slight glow as they began to move on their own. Within a minute the box opened with a soft click. Opening the box Luke reached inside and pulled out the only thing in it, a simple silver bracelet. Luke was confused when he saw the bracelet, it looked to be ordinary leather nothing special about it.

However, once Thalia saw the bracelet she felt a pull towards the bracelet. Almost as if it was calling out or singing to her. She moved forward and reached out her hand to the bracelet. Luke had a curious look on his face as he watched Thalia move forward and as she got close to him he held the bracelet out to her. Grabbing the bracelet from Luke, Thalia placed it on her left wrist. Once it was on her wrist the bracelet glowed slightly before transforming into a shield. The shield was a simple round leather shield that was a little under three feet wide. As the shield appeared on Thalia's wrist, Luke jumped back in shock and fear as he saw the front of the shield. The front of the shield was a depiction of a woman with a snarling expression and snakes on her head in place of her hair.

"Holy shit! That looks way too real!" Luke exclaimed, catching his breath and calming down slightly. It was Halcyon who was the most surprised upon seeing the shield. For the first time in their meeting he spoke, through his own mouth.

"That is the Aegis, or even a replica." The three other demigods all looked at Halcyon with surprise painted across their faces. Halcyon had talked to them in the room, instead of through the door. Halcyon also did a slight double take at his voice coming from himself for the first time in decades. Quickly composing himself he explained to them what the Aegis was.

"So my dad sent Amaltheia to me so that I could get this." Thalia said quietly. She gazed down at her wrist, now again adorned with the leather bracelet. After messing with the shield, she had managed to switch it back to the bracelet. Looking back up to Halcyon she had a determined look in her eyes. "Ok, so now that it looks like your curse is lifted we are getting out of here." Thalia said as she looked at each person in the room. Violet had felt a swell of confidence after hearing what exactly the Aegis was. However that swell of confidence was gone once Halcyon spoke again.

"Unfortunately the leucrota can not be harmed by any metal, be it mortal or divine, as well they are incredibly fast predators and will attack anything outside this room and even in this room once it is time for them to feed. It is only after their feeding time that the door will reappear."

No one spoke after that statement. None of them could. They couldn't help but let sorrow start to take hold of their hearts. It seemed that this would be the end of their journey. Seeing the faces of the children who had helped to free him, at least partially, from his curse Halcyon couldn't let them fall into despair. Tapping on a small rectangular shape on his desk Halcyon caught the attention of the three demigods. "There may be another way to deal with the leucrota." He said clearly, hoping to bring back the conviction they had only a few moments before.

"How? You said they couldn't be harmed by any weapon." Violet asked him, her voice hesitant but some hope slipped in to it.

"No. I said no metal could harm them, not no weapon." Halcyon corrected her gently. Luke's eyes lit up at what Halcyon was saying.

"So we just have to find a weapon that isn't made of metal, and we would be able to fight them off. That's genius Hal!" Luke said. Halcyon seemed a little perplexed at Luke's apparent change of heart towards him.

Luke, ever observant, noticed Hal's curious look so decided to elaborate. "You were cursed by the gods, just because you chose to save a girl from death. And we thought that you were doing all this for kicks and not because you were forced to. So I want to say I'm sorry for how we acted before." He gestured to himself, Thalia and Violet, who both nodded along with what Like was saying. "So now, if you can help us get out of here we will help you get out as well."

Halcyon held back a sad chuckle at Luke's words. In the decades he had been cursed every demigod whom he had told his story, none had empathized with him and had only scorned and cursed him till their last breath. Now it seemed that these three would help him escape.

"Very well then. We need to start looking for the solution to our problem, we only have about 4 hours now before sundown." Halcyon said as he opened the rectangular object on his desk. As a light emanated from the object, the three other occupants of the room gathered around him to see what the object was. Hal suppressed a small smile at the wonder on each of their faces. "This was a gift from a man named Quintus. He said that it would function similarly to the computers the mortals have created but he had also included a database of many thousands of books and other items he had collected. So if there is anything that could kill the Leucrota, it should be found in this." The four of them set to work to try and figure out a way to kill the monsters blocking their escape. As the minutes ticked by and multiple dead ends were found, it seemed like their Hope's were in vain until Violet noticed a passage on one of the pages they were looking at.

"There!" She exclaimed pointing to a section in the passage. "Greek fire, a fire that will burn regardless of where it is and will not stop burning until everything around it is consumed. That sounds like it could work." She looked to the other three for their opinions. Luke nodded in agreement, Thalia gave a soft hum for her agreement and Halcyon moved the cursor over the highlighted word and clicked on it.

"Hm, it does give the recipe for the fire here and I have most of the ingredients in this room but we are missing the most crucial one, lightning." He said in a tired tone. It would seem, to him, that their final hope for escape was gone.

"Well if we need lightning, I could make some." Thalia said, to the surprise of Hal. Seeing his look Thalia shrugged. "My dad is Zeus and I've been working on making lightning for the last couple years. It's still not great but I can make a few small bolts."

"No, that's perfect. According to the recipe we do not need a lot, just enough to charge all the ingredients." Hal said as he got up from his desk and went about his room grabbing the ingredients listed on the recipe. Soon enough Hal held a small glass jar with a slightly dark green liquid inside of it. He turned to Thalia and gave her the jar. "Now all we need is for you to put a small bit of lightning through the jar so that everything can be mixed and charged." Hal told her as she took the jar.

Holding the jar, Thalia gained a look of concentration as she tried to will a small bit of lightning from her hands and into the jar. The next few minutes passed agonizingly slow as they waited to see if their final plan for escape would work. Soon though a small flash of light and a crack of thunder resounded through the room. When the light died down the liquid in the jar had changed from a still, dark green substance into a bright green and swirling substance. Hal let out a mighty laugh, which prompted the other three to laugh as well realizing their plan could work and that they would survive the day. After calming down Hal glanced at his watch and noticed the time. They only had 10 minutes before sundown.

Glancing at each of the kids before him Hal saw glimpses of each of their futures. Luke, in a throne room fighting with a scythe against a black haired teenager, Thalia reuniting with lost family after many years, and Violet finding a family she never knew she lost. It saddened him but at the same time resolved him into the course he was about to take. The three children who had helped to free him from his curse, gave him hope for a better future would not meet their ends here, he would make sure of it. Moving over to his desk one final time he picked up the knife that he had pulled out hours ago. Walking up to Luke he held the knife out to him, hilt first. "I have already told you that this knife was a gift from the young woman whom I saved. I want you to take this and remember me." Hal said as Luke closed his hand around the hilt.

"Wait, remember you? Aren't you coming with us?" Violet asked as Hal positioned himself near the door to the room.

Hal gave a sad smile as he said, "No, there isn't much time left before the leucrota break into this room and feed on everyone in here. So,I'm going to lure them away while the three of you escape."

"But why?" Luke asked him.

Hal smiled a bit at the question. "I'm old. And I've made too many mistakes, so I am hoping that this will at least atone for some of them. Besides the three of you are young and have your whole lives ahead of you, so let this old man act as a hero should one last time."

"But-" Violet began but stopped when a hand was put on her shoulder. Violet looked back and saw Thalia shaking her head.

"Good luck, Hal. Hope you make it out." Thalia said as she handed him the jar of Greek Fire.

Hal took the jar from Thalia, as he prepared to open the door and lead the leucrota to their doom. After giving one last look to the three that freed him from his curse, he steeled himself and threw open the door sprinting into the hallway with a cry. Instantly the leucrota began to chase him, and as he and the monsters disappeared inside one of the rooms a small explosion was heard. At that the three demigods made a dash for the living room and hopefully the door outside. Making it into the living room the three of them found the door had once again reappeared. Violet reached the door first and wrenched the door open as Luke and Thalia rushed past her. Making it outside the three of them had to take a minute to catch their breath. Turning back towards the house the three of them saw green flames licking at the windows of the upper floor of the house. The three of them stood there in a moment of silence, paying their respects to the man they had initially hated for getting them trapped in a death trap but they came to respect him for sacrificing himself so they could survive and escape. In the distance though they could hear sirens in the distance.

"Come on, we need to get out of here." Luke said, his voice clouded with grief and something else neither Thalia or Violet could detect. Though they knew that Luke was right, it was hard for the two girls to walk away from the mansion. They had only known Hal for a short while but it wasn't fair that he died for them to escape. After another prompt from Luke though, both of them did realize that they needed to leave or they would have to answer questions they couldn't answer in a reliable manner. So it was that the three demigods walked away from the burning mansion, tears fell from their eyes as the smoke and flames rose into the sky. They had walked for a while after that, the sky had opened up and rain had started to fall. It soaked them down, the chill from the rain adding into the slight cold the breeze had brought to them. They had walked for about twenty minutes from the mansion before Violet came to a stop. Thalia and Luke continued on for a few steps before they realized Violet had stopped. The two of them turned back towards where Violet had stopped. "Hey Bubbles you alright?" Luke called out to her. His use of her nickname brought Violet out of the slight stupper she had been in.

Violet turned to Luke and Thalia, confusion on her face. "I felt something coming from down this way." She said raising a hand to point down the alleyway she had been looking into. This statement caused the other two demigods to reflexive tense. Whenever any of them had felt something they all took it as a sign of danger.

Thalia moved up to the edge of the alleyway and peered into it. She could see clearly to the other end of the alleyway and couldn't see anything that might have set off Violet. However upon close inspection Thalia noticed a small crevice in the side of one of the walls. Giving a sign to Luke, Thalia began to move down the alleyway slowly. Close behind her Luke and Violet both followed her. Once the three of them were close to the crevice all three of them stopped. The crevice seemed to be covered partially with a few bits of chain and other metal things. Sharing a glance between the three of them, it was decided they would kill whatever was in the crevice if it was hostile. If it turned out not to be hostile, they would just move on. They quickly positioned themselves around the crevice and prepped themselves. Thalia had her spear and new shield out, Violet held her trident in front of her and Luke had his knife at the ready. The three of them had just barely gotten into position when a sudden yell tore through the almost silent alleyway. A small yellow and red blur shot out of the crevice and towards Violet. As the blur moved towards Violet she braced herself to impale the blur but her instincts screamed at her to lower her trident. Almost against her own will, her trident lowered and instead of impaling the blur she instead took a blow to her stomach from a hammer. Violet doubled over clutching at her stomach as she tried to catch her breath.

"Hey!" Thalia shouted as she rushed up and grabbed the girl who had struck Violet by the wrist, forcing her to drop the hammer she was holding.

"No! No more monsters!" The girl screamed out. She began to struggle against Thalai's hold.

"Hey, it's okay. We're not monsters." Luke said as he came up behind Thalia and the girl. The girl began to calm down as she looked to Luke.

"You're not?" The girl asked. Luke laughed a bit at the innocent look on the girl's face.

"Yeah, I'm Luke, the girl you hit with your hammer is Violet, and the girl next to you is Thalia."

The girl looked down as Luke introduced each of them. "I'm Annabeth." The girl said shyly.

"Where's your family?" Thalia asked, though she figured she knew the answer based on where they found Annabeth.

"They don't want me. So I ran away." Annabeth told them. Violet had recovered by this point and she looked up to Thalia and Luke. A silent conversation passed between the three of them. Finally it was Luke who spoke again.

"Well how about we become your new family, because we're just like you. We don't have families anymore either." Annabeth looked up at Luke, her eyes seemed to fill with hope.

"Really?" She asked him. All three of them laughed a little at Annabeth's actions. Even as Annabeth frowned at the laughs, Thalia answered her question.

"Yeah, really. We'll look after you and you won't have to be alone anymore." At that statement Luke had a small revelation. Kneeling down so he was eye level with Annabeth, he pulled out the knife that Hal had given him just a short while ago.

"If you're going to come with us, you're going to need a real monster slaying weapon." Luke said as he held the knife out to Annabeth. Her eyes widened at the sight of the knife. "But this can only be used by the smartest of fighters and something tells me you are pretty smart, aren't you?" Nodding her head as Luke continued to speak. "Alright then. As long as you have this knife I promise that we won't ever let you down like your family did. Okay?" Once more Annabeth nodded her head.

"Alright then," Thalia said. "Now that we have another mouth we should get some food and find a place to sleep tonight." Luke and Violet looked at Thalia and nodded their heads. Though at Thalia's words Annabeth looked to Thalia with a question on her face. Seeing her questioning look Thalia kneeled down to Annabeth. "What's up?"

"Can we get chocolate?" Annabeth asked. The three others all had a smile on their faces at the question. Violet stepped up to Annabeth and offered her hand to the girl, who gladly took it in her own smaller hand.

"Let's see what we can find." Violet said as she began to walk out of the alleyway with Thalia and Luke following behind. As they continued to walk the sky began to clear as the final rays of the setting sun shone down on the now group of four demigods.


End file.
